Aldric Thornwood's Arc

Chapter 3 of 10

Aldric walked back toward the road with the files tucked under his arm. The fog had burned off by the time he reached the first bend, and the light made the grass look sharper than it had in days. He didn't expect the knock. The clerk stood on his doorstep when Aldric arrived home, mud streaked up his legs and across his coat. His boots left fresh prints on the stone path, dark and wet like he'd run through a field without looking where he stepped. His hands shook when he tried to speak. "You need to stop," he said. "The man at the dock — he's not helping us. He's one of them." Aldric wanted him to come inside, to sit down and explain everything he'd been tracking for twenty years. But the clerk kept glancing back toward the road, toward the old willow that stood bent and gnarled at the edge of Aldric's property. Its branches hung low enough to hide someone underneath. "He followed me here," the clerk whispered. "He wanted me to come." Aldric stepped past him and walked to the willow. The trunk was massive, twisted like it had been growing in the wrong direction for decades. Crows perched in the upper branches, silent and still. A wooden bench sat beneath it, half-rotted, covered in moss. Someone had carved initials into the bark years ago, but they'd been scratched over with deep gouges that looked fresh. Aldric circled the tree twice. No one was there. But when he looked back at his door, the clerk was gone. The muddy prints led down the path, then stopped at the road. Aldric followed them until they vanished into a stretch of grass that showed no sign of being disturbed. He returned to the willow and sat on the bench. The crows shifted but didn't leave. Aldric pulled out the annotated files and compared the clerk's handwriting to the gouges in the tree. They didn't match. Someone else had been here, recently, and left a message meant to be seen. Aldric understood now — the clerk hadn't come to warn him. He'd been sent to see if Aldric would follow him away from the house. The stranger at the dock wasn't trying to hide. He was testing how much Aldric trusted what he saw. Aldric placed his hand on the scarred bark and made his decision. He wouldn't chase the clerk. He would wait here, under this tree, until the stranger made his next move. The crows stayed with him until dark.